


I Have a Bad Feeling About This

by JennaCupcakes



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, coulson has been turned into an astromech, family relations are a mess, he's still a big fan of steve though, peggy carter kicks everybody's ass, the star wars au i never thought i'd write
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-26
Updated: 2014-10-08
Packaged: 2018-02-10 12:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2024817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JennaCupcakes/pseuds/JennaCupcakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... Peggy, princess of Alderaan and unofficial leader of the rebellion against the Empire, is captured by the Red Skull. Meanwhile Steve Rogers wants nothing more than to enlist for the Academy and get off this dirthole of a planet called Tatooine. Sam Wilson owns a spaceship called the Falcon. Nobody panic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So here it is, the Star Wars AU I never thought I'd write. It's as good a summer project as anything, I suppose. 
> 
> Beta-read by myself, but I do have a tendency to miss some mistakes sometimes. Shoot me a message if you want to point out any mistakes or pity me so much that you want to become my beta-reader.

She could have gotten away with this, Peggy reflected, had she been born as literally anyone else.

The sirens blaring over the com-system of the ship called for an evacuation – evacuation, how very futile, this wasn’t some meagre patrol ship on their tail, this was a goddamn Star Destroyer – while she hastened down the hallway against the mass of crew and personnel going the other way. The ship was shaking, stabilizers rendered useless in the magnetic beam of the Star Destroyer, and she kept one hand close to the wall to catch herself should she fall. 

The maintenance ward was directly ahead of her now.

It was just her luck, she reflected, that this had to happen while she was on an official mission. Arrogance, it had been arrogance to think that the Emperor’s favourite pawn Red Skull wouldn’t strike while she was travelling as a diplomat – hadn’t her father tried to warn the senate over and over again that the Emperor’s henchmen were growing too bold? And of course diplomatic protocol forbade her to just get into a goddamn starfighter and settle this affair for good. Not that a starfighter would have done much good against the Empire’s giant battleship. Also, there was a regrettable lack of any kind of war machinery on this ship save for her bodyguards’ guns – hence the title _diplomatic ship_.

Peggy sighed.

The maintenance ward was empty, the few crewmen that worked down here had either taken up the call of evacuation or tried to join the skirmish that was bound to start a few decks up as soon as the Stormtroopers borded the ship. The astromech-droids were all outside, repairing the damage that had been done to the ship while the Star Destroyer was trying to slow it down. 

Well, all save for one.

He came out of a corner somewhere in the darkness of the maintenance ward, status lights blinking happily. Peggy couldn’t recall a single occasion she had been more glad to see the droid, and he had been in possession of her family for a very long time. Smiling fondly, she placed a hand on the rounded shell of his main computer. 

“Hello, little one.”

The astromech beeped in response, rolling forward to lightly bump against her legs. Peggy smiled wider, then inserted the record disk into the designated slot on the droid. A quick glance around assured her that she hadn’t been found yet. 

She initiated the record sequence.

“General Fury.”

She paused, not sure how to phrase her plea now that she had come this far. All the things she had to say to Fury, to the rebellion, in case they captured her on this ship today. Which was very likely. 

“I have been brought to the point of asking for your help by the extreme circumstances I find myself in today. The Empire’s grasp keeps expanding, and even my father’s position in the senate couldn’t protect me, as it seems, forever. I have with me plans of a new weapon of the Empire that, if brought to fruition, will further tighten the stranglehold of the Empire on our systems. The Red Skull knows I have these plans, and he has boarded my ship. I will try to escape, if I can, but my chances are slim. This loyal astromech I have entrusted with the plans that hold the key to the future of the rebellion. I implore you, find my father, and bring these plans to him. He will know what to do.”

She leaned down and inserted the little data disc into a small storage slot.

“Help us, General Fury,” she added, suddenly weary and exhausted. “You are our only hope.”

The recording ended. 

“Thank you,” she said to the astromech, “Now go.”

He rolled off, beeping and blinking. As he disappeared into the darkness again, she thought she heard the voice of their human relations droid JARVIS joining the astromech’s beeping. Then the sound was drowned out by footsteps.

Peggy whirled around, reaching for a gun she wasn’t carrying, and cursed. The storm troopers were at the entrance of the maintenance area, edging forward slowly with their guns drawn. She didn’t have much time, if she had any left at all.

She ducked down the hall in the opposite direction, then headed through a labyrinth of narrow hallways and tunnels she only knew because she’d practically grown up on this ship, accompanying her father the senator on his various missions and public duties. It had always been true that while she hated the confines of diplomacy and political scheming, there was one thing she hated more, and that were the confines of being raised with the restrictions that the title _Princess of Alderaan_ carried. She might be the legal heir to the throne, but Peggy Stark had grown up on a spaceship with stars under her feet and eternity in front of her, and now that was saving her life, or at least buying her a precious few minutes.

It didn’t matter how well she knew the ship, though, she realised, because the Stormtroopers were already everywhere, and at least every second of them knew her face, if the Red Skull hadn’t explicitly drilled it into their brains to be remembered: _do not shoot this woman, she is a possible hostage and holds information that is precious to me_ – yes, she could picture that. Were she anybody but Peggy Stark, she could have gotten off this ship in one of the escape pods, or even as a simple prisoner. Now she was damned to leave as the Red Skull’s personal prisoner.

The pilot’s changing room saved her skin.

The uniforms were hanging on their hooks in a neat row when she entered the room breathlessly, glad that she had found at least _one_ place that wasn’t yet crawling with Stormtroopers. They probably belonged to the pilots that hadn’t been on duty when the Star Destroyer caught up with them, and none of them would miss one uniform if it disappeared. 

Peggy found one in her size. It didn’t fit like her own pilot uniform that she’d left back on Alderaan, but it served its purpose. She slipped it on, shoved her own clothes somewhere at the back of one of the lockers, and did her best to rub the makeup off her face. Then she reached for a pair of scissors.

 

When she shoved the pilot’s cap down over her cropped off hair, the door burst open. Two Stormtroopers, their blasters aimed at her, came to a skittering halt. 

“Hands up!” one of them shouted. Peggy raised her hands.

“I surrender,” she said calmly.

The one who had spoken first beckoned for the other one to go over and check her for weapons. Peggy held still, tried to will her heart to beat slower. She almost held her breath.

“Clean,” the Stormtrooper announced.

“State your name and rank,” the trooper who had spoken first demanded. 

“Margaret Carter,” Peggy answered. “Pilot.”

 


	2. The Droids

“I can’t, Buck.” 

Steve Rogers was doing a miserable job at pretending.

“I have to be back at the farm by this afternoon today.”

Bucky Barnes was grinning at Steve over the open engine of a T-74 speeder, makeshift overall and face smeared with grime and motor oil. 

It was hot in the garage, even with the walls of baked sand keeping out the worst of the suffocating afternoon sunshine of Tatooine’s twin suns, and Bucky had rolled up the sleeves of his overall sometime during the reassembling process. Steve now found that that had been a smart idea. He was sweating like the proverbial Wookie on Tatooine. 

“Come on. Just one ride.” 

Bucky patted the cassis of the speeder, polished blank by sand and dust and time.

“A test drive. _One_ test drive.”

He almost made it sound reasonable. 

“I can’t,” Steve insisted nevertheless. He’d made a promise, after all. He handed Bucky the speeder’s hood panel with the grim face of a young man who, when faced with a difficult decision, was accustomed to make the one that brought him less pleasure. This wasn’t the first time they were having this conversation. It was almost like a dance between them by now. 

Sometimes, for the fun of it, Steve would let Bucky win.

“You’ve been working your ass off all week, Steve! I’ve barely even seen you, and now you wanna go back to that place and work some more when we’ve _just_ finished…”

“I _know_.”

He felt the itch as well. They’d spent all afternoon holed up in the garage of Toshee Station, disassembling and then reassembling the unfortunate T-74 Bucky had managed to come across under questionable circumstances (Steve hadn’t pressed for details). 

Steve had an eye for machines and their workings, Bucky had the steady hands and patience that working a motor required, and now the specs of the machine looked more promising than ever. 

“No sandstorms predicted for the rest of the day…” 

Bucky’s voice was an echoing sing-song in the empty hall of a room. 

“We could take her to the canyon and race her against maybe one of Lee’s, see how the engine holds up against the slope between…”

He caught Steve’s eye. 

“Oh, come on, I can see you want to. You’re practically drooling.”

Steve made a face at him. “Of course I want to, jerk.”

He reached for the screws, passing Bucky one after the other as he slotted them into the drill. 

“That’s not really the question. But my uncle said the droid traders will be back this afternoon, and he’s planning to buy one to ease our way with the condensators on the farm. He wants me there.”

“For the transaction? Sure. But after that?”

The drill died done with a soft whirring, and Bucky gave the hood an experimental shove. It seemed to hold, did nothing but ring out with a hollow sound under his knuckles.

“I mean, you could come back to the station. Nothing like a late afternoon ride through the canyon. Makes you feel alive. We could maybe watch the sunset, you and I, and take another trip in the dark…”

“Because that’s a smart idea with all the sand people around…”

“And then tomorrow we could smooth out the last bugs and go up against Lee and the others for real. Think about it!”

Steve grinned. He didn’t even want to, it was an automatic reaction when he listened to Bucky spin his plans and ideas and fairy-tales. They spent an awful lot of time in the garage together just because Bucky loved to talk and Steve loved to listen, to whatever pipe dream Bucky was going on about today. 

“Listen, how about this: we take the speeder back to the farm, you drop me off and see if there’s still bugs in the engine, and if you find something, we’ll fix it tomorrow morning.”

He wasn’t entirely sure his uncle would approve of losing him for another day of work, but he’d settle that, somehow. They still had some time before the harvest. Maybe, if he helped with the droids tonight, he could even get a word in about the academy.

“Deal.”

Bucky seemed satisfied, or at least he dusted off his hands on his overall and then set to shedding his working clothes. “But I’ll tell Lee you chickened out on him, not me!”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What about this one, uncle?”

Steve was pointing at one of the last droids on display. The Jawas had lined them up neatly in the heat of the fading afternoon, facing the farm of Erskine’s family that Steve had been a part of for as long as he could remember. Their family was one of many farmers out here, but it was still a remote area – the Jawas would be lucky to sell anything close to ten droids. Still they came, probably because the farmers were loyal customers, if nothing else. Farming did take its toll on the people, but droids wore down faster still.

The droid Steve was pointing at had a shiny golden exterior, and an almost human apparition. He seemed startled at the prospect of an inspection, and straightened himself immediately. Steve saw in that the signs of a droid who had been built for the more civilised worlds out there, where droids served for anything more than practical reasons – a suspicion his uncle confirmed a few seconds later.

“This one?” 

He came over to where Steve was standing and gave the droid a good long look.

“What’s your specialty?”

“JARVIS, Sir. Human-droid relations. I am fluent in over three million basic forms of communication, and have been trained in protocol as well.”

“A protocol droid?” Steve asked, “What does that mean?”

“It means he’s probably stolen,” Erskine answered, leaning towards Steve. It wasn’t like the droid was going to be offended at the accusation, but it still felt unsettling to talk about someone so close to human as if they weren’t even there when they were standing right in front of you. Plus, the Jawas might hear them.

Steve glanced at the droid again. 

“We should inform the authorities.”

Erskine sighed.

“I know, but it wouldn’t do any good. These Jawas come and go. Who knows how many caravans like this one are out there? It’d be impossible to trace them, assuming that somebody cared enough to try.”

“Then buy him,” Steve suggested, “We can try to trace the owner ourselves. A protocol droid like this must be valuable.”

“Maybe,” Erskine said, “And in the meantime, I know someone up with the condensators who’d appreciate a little help with someone who can read binary code.”

He turned to the droid. “You do read binary code, right?”

The droid straightened himself again. “Sir, I can assure you, I have been sufficiently trained in…”

“We’ll take him,” Erskine called to the nearest Jawa. The hooded figure scurried over immediately, and Erskine wandered off with him to haggle for what they thought to be an appropriate price. Steve was sure that their knowledge about the questionable origin of this droid would factor into the equation in their favour, and that the Jawa wouldn’t be too happy. Still, it was only fair.

“Sir.”

The protocol droid had approached Steve, and was on the verge of putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“Might I suggest, this droid over there is in a _very_ good condition, and also a skilled mechanic. Astromech, you see? You might want to consider buying him, too. We’ve worked together for many years now.”

Steve frowned. He had never heard a droid express sentiment or even something close to it. Maybe it came standard with the more sophisticated protocol droids, just like the lessons on etiquette, but it felt unsettling nevertheless.

“This one, you say?” Steve asked, pointing to a little can-shaped droid with a round head and blue markings. The droid was chirping happily at the attention it received.

“Precisely.”

It wasn’t a very elaborate leap for Steve to assume this droid was part of the stolen good as well. Astromechs were for sale more often here, with Mos Eisley and Mos Espa being so close a lot of pilots sold their malfunctioning ones, and it was an easy task for the Jawas to refit them, but if JARVIS said he’d worked with this particular droid…

“Uncle!” Steve called, “Uncle, how about this one?”

Erskine paused in his negotiations to consider the astromech Steve was pointing at. 

“Do we need another droid mechanic?”

“I wouldn’t say no to the help. It’s been going okay so far, but when the harvest rolls around you don’t want me to have to divide my time between fixing our equipment and coordinating things on the west hill.”

“Good point,” Erskine turned to the Jawa again, “We’ll take this one, too.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bucky was back at evenfall.

Steve had just brought the droids into the shop and fitted them with their security bolts when there was a knock on the baked sand wall of the underground shop and then Bucky sauntered down the stairs. 

“Hey,” he said, leaning against the wall on the left side of the shop.

“Hey,” Steve replied, putting aside his tools, “What brings you here at this time?”

Bucky grinned.

“Wanted to see if you were up for a late evening ride,” he said, looking down at his open palms and now Steve knew that something wasn’t right, because Bucky was getting coy about something and that wasn’t him, he was always upfront and honest with his ideas.

“What’s up?” 

Steve frowned, and took a step closer. It was so unlike Bucky to hold something back.

“It’s…” 

Bucky hesitated, pulled the words back and pursed his lips. Leaning against the wall didn’t give him an aura of nonchalance now so much as that it made him seem like a cornered animal.

“I enlisted,” he finally spat out, “for the Academy.”

Steve took in a sharp breath. 

He couldn’t say he was surprised, not really. Both of them had been talking about going to the Academy since they were old enough to hear about it – walk on more civilised planets, finally read all the books they’d been dreaming about, fight monsters and rebels and uphold order and peace in the galaxy. It was everything two boys from Tatooine could ever want, and everything they were likely to never get, not with families to support and harvests to bring in.

“When are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow,” Bucky sighed, “Listen, I meant to tell you sooner, but the time was never right.”

Steve let his head hang. Immediately, Bucky was with him and put a hand on his shoulder. “There’s still time to put your name in, the shuttle leaves at ten, that’s plenty of time to pack your stuff and get everything in order, we could go together…”

“My uncle would have to say yes.”

Steve looked miserable, his shoulders hanging low and his head bowed down. He’d dreamt about this, too, but in his heart, he’d made peace with the fact that he’d never get there, not really. And then Bucky just came along and did it. It wasn’t really fair.

“You could, if you wanted to.”

“Now well that’s not fair either!” Steve protested, “You come in here like it’s all fine and easy to just go and leave your family behind, but I owe everything to my uncle, and I can’t just leave him if he needs me!”

“I couldn’t just wait for you forever, Steve,” Bucky mumbled miserably.

“I didn’t ask you to,” Steve replied.

Bucky sighed, and pulled his hand away from Steve’s shoulder.

“There’s still time tomorrow,” he said, half turning away, “If you want to come. I’ll keep a seat for you on the shuttle.”

“I just need to put my name on the list?”

“Nothing more.”

Bucky turned back one last time with a grin, wide as the gaping desert. 

“I’ll think about it,” Steve said. In his mind, he was already thinking about all the things he could say to convince his uncle.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The residue heat made the air in his workshop taste terribly stale after Bucky had left.

 

He looked to the screwdriver in his hand, and asked himself what he’d done with his life so far.

 

Ever since he could remember, he and Bucky had talked about this - the Academy, their way of escape, their chance to do something great, something that could help the people out there instead of being stuck on this planet plagued by poverty and crime where the only thing they could hope to do with their career was to take over the family farms and lead lives that weren’t to determined by the fear of the next attack of sand people or mercenaries from the bigger cities. He was angry, because while he’d talked about it so many times, Bucky was the one who’d gone ahead and did it, and he was still here trying to break himself in two over his duties and his dreams.

A beeping from the back of the workshop reminded him that the droids were still there.

„Master Steve?“

„It’s just Steve.“

Steve threw the screwdriver into the air. It turned midair, then fell back into his palm. He sighed.

„Let’s see about the two of you then, huh?“

The old melody was haunting him again.

 

_Maybe if you do really well this time, your uncle will let you go._

 

He never did, though.

„I never asked,“ he said in JARVIS’ direction, „What’s the astromech’s designation?“

„Coulson, Sir,“ the protocol droid responded.

„I told you, just call me _Steve_.“ Steve beckoned the astromech to come closer. „Okay, then. I’ll start with you, Coulson.“

The astromech rolled forward, chirping in a way that Steve could only describe as happy. His aunt always did say that his fantasy was running wild when it came to droids.

Steve looked him over again. The droid was in a surprisingly good shape for a piece of scrap bought from Jawas travelling the Jundland desert. Normally the wear and tear of sand storms showed on the hull after a few weeks already, but both of these droids barely had a scratch on them, which meant they had to be fairly new to the planet. If they really were stolen, then the owner couldn’t be too far. Steve wondered if maybe they were still docking in one of the greater space ports, maybe Mos Eisley or Mos Espa, and what he’d have to do to find them

Of course, they’d be stupid to give away droids as good as these. But Steve couldn’t help but be curious.

He put aside the screwdriver in favour of an instrument he could use to clean the spaces between the metal panels of sand. Those always were the places where the damage started and that needed to be maintained the best. But even these were remarkably clean.

Now that he was closer he could see that the metal hull of the astromech wasn’t as unmarred as he’d previously thought - there were scratches there that could only be signs of active duty. Dents from space debris that he would have to straighten out, and even one or two scorched marks that seemed to be from a blaster. 

Of course, these kinds of marks weren’t uncommon for astromechs. Maintaining the outer hull of a spaceship in flight was left to droids for a reason, and Steve had heard it said that sometimes these droids were even sent out during battle to fix urgent leaks. Still, he’d thought the need for astromechs serving on battleships much smaller now than, say, twenty years ago, at the dawn of the Empire.

It was in the middle of these thoughts that he came across the plastic piece jarred between two plates.

He stopped dead in his tracks, caught off guard, then carefully applied the tool again. The piece remained where it was. He hit it again.

A blast like a sudden shock sent him flying backwards.

When he opened his eyes again, a blue light was filling the workshop. And, forming the center of the blue light, was the most beautiful girl Steve had ever seen.

“General Fury.”

The girl’s voice rang loud and clear in the small workshop. She had long, brown hair styled into artful curls, and wore a white robe that was fastened around her waist with a belt. Through the blue light Steve could only guess colours, but he assumed the dark colour on her lips was red. 

“I have been brought to the point of asking for your help by the extreme circumstances I find myself in today. The Empire’s grasp keeps expanding, and even my father’s position in the senate couldn’t protect me, as it seems, forever. I have with me plans of a new weapon of the Empire that, if brought to fruition, will further tighten the stranglehold of the Empire on our systems. The Red Skull knows I have these plans, and he has boarded my ship. I will try to escape, if I can, but my chances are slim. This loyal astromech I have entrusted with the plans that hold the key to the future of the rebellion. I implore you, find my father, and bring these plans to him. He will know what to do.”

She leaned down, looking around furtively and extending her hand, then straightened herself again.

“Help us, General Fury,” she added, suddenly weary and exhausted. “You are our only hope.”

Then, as sudden as she had come, she disappeared.

Steve blinked, dumbfounded. 

„JARVIS,“ he said eventually, „Do you know who she is?“

He turned around too late to see the protocol droid recoil in shock and confusion. „Master Steve, I am not sure I… you see, this droid has been passed around a lot, he could have caught this anywhere… probably a bug, Sir, nothing to worry about…“

Steve knew very well that every self-respecting mechanic would have checked the droid well enough upon acquiring him to discover this, but he kept it to himself.

„General Fury…“ he muttered, „I wonder…“

„You wonder what, Sir?“

There seemed to be a certain apprehension in the voice of the protocol droid now, which lead Steve to believe that JARVIS knew more than he let on. His polite demeanour masked a vast intelligence, Steve would do better to remember that.

„She couldn’t mean old Nick Fury living out in the Jundland desert, could she?“

There were all sorts of stories about old Nick amongst the youth of the greater Mos Espa area - that he’d lost an eye fighting the empire twenty years ago, that he was a Commander of the old Republic army, that he was a wizard, worse, that he was a _Jedi_ , and that he was unapproachable and dangerous through and through. Steve couldn’t really believe any of the things told about him, because if only half of them had been true the Empire should have been here to collect him years ago. He probably was just a very eccentric old man who’d had the misfortune to get on the bad side of one Tatooine gang or the other and lose an eye for it.

„I don’t know, Sir,“ JARVIS said. 

Steve cocked his head and carefully mustered the astromech. „Could you play it again?“

Coulson answered with a series of chirps that didn’t sound too friendly.

„Don’t be like that,“ JARVIS reprimanded him, „The man has been nothing but kind to you. Play it again for him.“

Coulson didn’t seem to be convinced by these words. He gave a short, dissonant beep and then went quiet.

„He says he can only play it again for General Fury, as he was the true intendant of the message. I am truly sorry, Sir.“

JARVIS shook his head. „Astromechs can be dreadfully hardheaded, I’m afraid. It’s their programming, what can you do…“

But Steve had already made up his mind. He’d wanted to find out who the droids belonged to, and this was his best chance. If he got up early tomorrow morning, he could make it to Fury’s home and deliver the droids before the shuttle left.

Thinking about the shuttle and Bucky made the queasy feeling return to his stomach. He got up with a start and put down his tools.

„I will take you to old Nick Fury tomorrow. Then we will see what all this means.“

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Dinner with his family did nothing to lift his mood in that regard. 

When he sat down, his aunt had just finished putting their vitamin rations together, and served them to Steve, who was still turning Bucky’s words and the mysterious girl’s message around in his head, and his uncle, who seemed more somber than usual.

Steve kept glancing at him from the corner of his eye while sipping his vitamins.

„What is it, Steve?“ Erskine finally asked, „Come on now, out with it.“

Steve glanced down on his plate. 

„Bucky signed up for the Academy,“ he said, „He’s leaving tomorrow morning.“

It took him another sip and another deep breath before he could continue. „I’d like to go with him.“

Erskine sighed deeply. They’d had this conversation before. 

„Steve, I know this is important to you. Believe me, I wouldn’t keep you here if I didn’t honestly believe it was the best for you.“

Steve had known this would be the answer, but it still hurt.

„How can this be the best for me?“ He was trying to be honest with his uncle, because the last thing he meant to do was hurt him, but he also needed to speak his feelings plainly. „I can have no future on this planet. The only thing to do is farming, but that’s not all I want to do in life. I want to help people, and I knew I could, if I could just get out there. Why would that be such a bad thing?“

„You might find that the Academy is not the best place for this.“ Erskine shook his head. „You have great skills, Steve. If you want to help people, you can do it, with the Academy or without it. Don’t think just because you don’t reach widely you can’t make a great difference. True change is achieved in small, everyday acts.“

Steve knew he was fighting a lost battle. He decided to change the topic.

„By the way, I think I might have found who these droids belonged to.“

At that, Erskine raised his head with interest. He had intelligent, brown eyes that always seemed to be illuminated by a certain spark, which always made him seem interested in what you were saying. He was an excellent listener. 

„Yes? How?“

„The astromech had some kind of memory chip jammed between two plates. There was a message on it. It was adressed to a certain General Fury.“

He let his words stand for a moment, then added, „You don’t think it could be Nick Fury living out in the Jundland desert, could it?“

Erskine put down his dinner. „That would be an odd coincidence indeed.“

„I was just thinking, because the astromech has clearly seen battle…“

„What did the message say?“, Erskine asked.

„Oh, it was all a bit jumbled…“

Steve didn’t dare to say that it probably came from the rebellion. It was one thing to think about it, but quite another to admit it - that the Empire wasn’t the only force out there, that there were others and maybe the Empire wasn’t as all-powerful as it liked to pretend.

„Old Nick Fury…“ Erskine muttered, „I haven’t spoken to him in ages. I wonder…“

„You know him?“ Steve asked. In all his time here, he had never known anyone who had seen Nick Fury in person, let alone claimed to have spoken to him.

„Back when he was a different man,“ Erskine said, „War changes people, Steve. I don’t know if I could still say I know the man old Fury has become.“

Steve turned back to his dinner with a sullen expression on his face. „I was thinking about taking the droids to him tomorrow. If the message really is meant for him, it might be important that he receives it.“

Erskine mustered him with an expression that said he knew Steve was holding back something, but he wasn’t going to confront him about it now. 

„As long as you bring them back in time for maintenance up on the North Hill by noon.“

„Don’t worry, uncle,“ Steve said. He was planning to be back and at a certain shuttle long before that anyway.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The comlink took a long time to establish a connection with Bucky. When he finally responded, he sounded sleepy.

„Stevie. What’s up?“

„I’ll be at the shuttle tomorrow. I just have to do something first, but I’ll be there.“

 


	3. Old Nick Fury

The sun was up at five the next morning, so Steve figured he was getting a head start on the shuttle in any case. Crossing the desert would take him an hour at least, but that still left him two hours with Fury before he had to turn back to make it in time for the shuttle.

He’d packed a bag with the things he’d need before going to bed, which he slung over his shoulder now and then made his way to the workshop to find the two droids and load them into his speeder.

He was in for a surprise.

At first glance, the workshop seemed empty when he entered, but then he switched on the light and discovered JARVIS hiding behind the shelves of machinery and tools. He frowned.

„What are you doing there?“

„Sir, I’m sorry, it’s my mistake.“

„What is? What are you talking about?“

„The security bolt! He was short-circuiting and said the bolt was the problem, so I removed it. Then he went away.“

„He _what_?“

Steve was afraid his uncle might kill him for that. He’d never known Erskine as anything but good-natured and forgiving, but even he had to have a point where he said _enough_. And this droid had cost them a lot of money.

„Sir, he said he had to find General Fury. I told him how dangerous it was, but he wouldn’t listen.“

„Oh no.“ Steve hid his face in his palms. „When did that happen?“

„About six hours ago.“ JARVIS let his head hang. „Sir, I am truly sorry. I would understand it if you were to shut me down. I have disappointed you.“

„Oh, come on.“ Steve could only shake his head at that. „You said it yourself, those astromechs are hard-headed. He probably could’ve fooled me as well.“

He made a grab for a pair of binoculars that were lying around on a table. „Let’s see if we can find him again before the Jawas collect him.“

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Peggy hadn’t slept very well.

Imperial cells weren’t built for comfort, certainly not, and while she was fairly good at tuning out most disturbances it was hard to sleep when all she could think about was when the Red Skull would come to question her, and what she would do if he did.

She’d had one meal since she came here, and that had been her only contact with the Stormtroopers that were guarding the cells. She’d taken it from an passing remark from one of them that the Red Skull was questioning all the prisoners personally. 

She knew her cover wouldn’t stand a meeting with the Red Skull. So far she’d only been lucky.

She was rapidly running out of time.

At least, with any luck, the plans had reached General Fury as she was sitting here. The battle station was even more terrifying now that she had seen it up close, and she knew the rebellion would have to act fast if any hope were to remain. She could at least hold on to that, and keep her mouth shut about where she’d sent the plans.

The door opened, and Peggy recoiled, but it was only a Stormtrooper with another tray of food he put down in front of her. Peggy still couldn’t fathom that there was life behind the plastoid of the armour. She knew that before the Empire, the white armour had solely belonged to clone troopers, but the army of the Empire was different for a reason. Today, the person behind the helmet might just as well be a normal person as a clone. 

She took the tray and withdrew to a corner of the cell to take her meal, and made a mental list of her options.

By now, her father had surely heard that her ship had been taken captive, but there was nothing he could do besides push for her release through diplomatic measures. Certainly, while she was suspected of smuggling secrets of state for the rebellion - which was a true accusation, but nevertheless - any petition he could think of would be useless. Her only defense was the fact that the Empire had had no real right to board her ship, and even that was a weak defense when the Emperor’s favourite henchman was concerned. At best, her case would give her father material to further his campaign against the growing influence of the Empire.

Her only other hope was General Fury, and that was even more depressing that thinking about her father. General Fury had been great once, as a general in the Clone Wars, but since then rarely anybody had seen him or heard of him. She only knew he was still alive because he kept sporadic contact with her father, but for the rest he’d practically disappeared.

She still remembered the time when Fury had been a big name - she’d only been a child, three at most, but still pieces of memory sometimes resurfaced: the hum of a lightsaber, a calming voice and the whispering of a thousand voices through the Force. A different time. 

She’d never talked to her father about these memories. She wasn’t sure what he’d say or do if he knew, and Peggy kept them to herself for a reason. 

So even if General Fury had received the plans, she’d be lucky if he’d take them to her father, not speaking of getting her out of here. 

If anybody was going to save her, it was herself.

Peggy sighed, and closed her eyes. In that case, she had work to do.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

He was half an hour into the desert when the astromech showed up on Steve’s radar, and even then he was only a far blip on the horizon.

„How in all of Correlia’s nine hells did he get this far?“ Steve cursed under his breath, pushing the speeder to its limit and then a bit further. Now he was glad for all the practice that he and Bucky had gotten.

„I have had the experience that determination can get you a long way,“ JARVIS added helpfully. Slowly, Steve began to wonder who had programmed this droid. He was sure he’d like to have a word or two with that person.

It took them ten more minutes to catch up with the astromech. By that time, they were almost at old Fury’s hut.

„Don’t you ever do that again!“

Steve stopped in front of the astromech and jumped out of the speeder. The first thing he did was fasten a new security bolt.

„You could have gotten me into a lot of trouble,“ he muttered angrily. Coulson replied with an innocent whistle as Steve loaded him into the speeder.

„Let’s get going,“ he said, „I don’t like this place.“

Indeed the canyon they were at the bottom of was very sheltered. There were a few caves leading deeper into the rock, and shadowed places that just seemed ideal to hide someone from unwanted views. Steve wasn’t paranoid, he’d just grown up on a planet that celebrated crime and left the orderly to worry about getting by without breaking the law on their own.

He was about to climb back into the speeder when his comlink chirped. Afraid it was going to be his uncle, Steve pressed the receiving button.

Bucky’s voice sounded from the tiny speakers.

„It’s four hours to go, buddy. Are you coming?“

„I’m coming.“ 

He didn’t even hesitate anymore. He’d made his decision. This was what he wanted, so he was gonna do it right.

„There’s just one last thing, Buck, one of our droids escaped during the night but I’m bringing him back in now, I won’t be a minute. I’ll meet you at the shuttle.“

„Don’t you dare be late.“

There was something in Bucky’s voice before he ended the connection, something that wasn’t quite resignation but that still sounded like he didn’t really _believe_ Steve was gonna show up. Bucky was reckless where Steve was hardheaded, and sometimes it felt like they were traveling in opposite directions because of that.

Steve pocketed his comlink with a grim expression on his face, then motioned for the two droids to follow him into the speeder. He had a feeling that Coulson was glaring at him menacingly, or maybe it was just his guilty conscience or the aura of this place. 

He wrote it off as nothing.

There was a crunch behind him.

Before Steve could turn around, somebody knocked him on the head really hard, and he fell down into the dust. 

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Waking up was a thing that Steve, given the chance, wouldn’t recommend the second time around. 

His entire head was thrumming, his left arm had fallen asleep, and there was a dusty taste in his mouth that could only come from sand. When he opened his eyes, the light was blinding and did nothing to ease the pain in his head.

„You’re safe now,“ a voice said from somewhere in front of him. If Steve was perfectly honest, that really wasn’t one of his main concerns right now.

„Where am I?“ he managed nonetheless, mainly because it seemed rude not to respond. His voice sounded hoarse, and the could feel pieces of sand stuck between his teeth.

„In my home.“

Steve blinked again now, and made out a figure in a hooded robe against the blinding white backdrop of the light. The man had dark skin, and a face that was lined with the story of an entire life. One of his eyes was covered by an eyepatch.

Steve sat up.

„You’re old Nick Fury!“

The man sighed. „I believe you’ve been looking for me.“

Steve rubbed his head. There was a bump forming, but apart from that all his limbs and body seemed unharmed. The fact that he wasn’t feeling dizzy also seemed a bonus.

Fury was following his movements with his good eye in a way that reminded Steve of the birds of prey that roamed the desert - attentive, almost unblinking, and with an intimidating intelligence. 

It was the kind of gaze that prompted Steve to stare back defiantly.

„I believe these droids belong to you, Sir.“ 

Steve motioned to JARVIS and Coulson.

„My uncle bought them yesterday from a caravan of Jawas, but the astromech was carrying a message adressed to a certain General Fury… that wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?“

Fury turned to the astromech and sighed. „Coulson…“

„You know the droid?“

Steve felt a tiny surge of triumph at that. He’d guessed right, he’d solved the puzzle, only he didn’t really know how to pursue from here on. Was he supposed to give them back? Was Fury supposed to offer to buy them back?

„I’ve known him a long time ago.“

Fury ran a hand over his face.

„I know, this droid doesn’t look it, but he is very old. Over thirty years at least. That’s an impressive lifespan for an astromech - but I don’t have to tell you that, do I?“

He fixed Steve with his glare again. Steve, for lack of a better option, shook his head.

Fury beckoned Coulson to come closer. The astromech rolled towards him, accompanying himself with chipper beeps, and then stopped facing an empty spot in the middle of the room.

„Play the message,“ Fury said. 

Steve watched Fury’s face throughout the message. He hadn’t heard much of the rebellion against the Empire so far - in the Outer Rim, people had other things on their mind than a government that most of the time didn’t really concern them anyway. He was dimly aware of the fact that some of it had to do with the Empire pushing for more influence over the systems, but if it did, Tatooine hadn’t received any treatment in that direction. The planet was as desolate and lawless as ever.

Fury’s face betrayed no reaction that could have given Steve a hint as to whether he knew the woman or was moved by what she was telling him. He might as well have been carved from stone. Steve could only assume that these were the remnants of the man that the woman from the message had addressed as _General Fury_ \- once a great man, a great commander, a great _Jedi_. 

But the Jedi had disappeared a long time ago, and the war had ended, and there evidently hadn’t been a place for whatever man Fury had been in the world that came after that. And now he was here. Steve couldn’t imagine what that meant for him.

The recording ended. 

Fury leaned back on his seat, running two hands over his face as if to cleanse his memory of what he had just seen. 

Steve edged forward on the bench he was sitting on. His aching head was momentarily forgotten.

„Who is she?“

Fury turned to Steve as if he’ only just remembered that Steve was still there.

„Peggy Stark, the eldest daughter of Senator Howard Stark. She’s a diplomat for her father and his home planet Alderaan, and also crown princess of that same planet. In her spare time, she leads the rebellion against the Empire.“

„She does what?“

Hearing it spoken so plainly shocked Steve, moreover because he couldn’t believe this was actually what he’d more or less stumbled into. Rebellions were for Holovids and the ‘zines you could buy at the intergalactic space port of Mos Espa. They didn’t happen in real life.

Instead of answering Steve’s question - it had been a rhetoric question anyway - Fury pinned him down with his glare again.

„What do you know about the rebellion?“ he asked flatly.

Steve could only shrug.

„Not much.“

Besides the rumors, the kind you picked up hanging around the space ports of Tatooine, nothing much trickled through to poor farm boys on the Outer Rim. The stories he’d heard had always seemed to contain just as much fiction as truth - a brave group of fighters standing up against the colossal Empire to defend their planets integrity, taking down starships and battle stations to liberate the oppressed. Sometimes there were Jedi involved, at least in the more fantastic ones, and those Jedi brought down entire Star Destroyers with their mind. 

Steve had never really believed in those tales.

„Well, I hadn’t expected you too.“ 

Fury sighed like someone who was tired of making up for the lack of knowledge in younger generations, like a man who had been a teacher for most of his life and now, that the greater part of his life was over, found that most of his efforts amounted to nothing.

„First of all: the rebellion is real. It’s not just something freight pilots tell you when they’re hoping for a free drink, it’s out there. The political part is lead by Senator Howard Stark, who has been in the senate since before you were born. He fights a lost battle for the integrity of smaller systems, and does everything in his power to keep the Empire from expanding.“

He gestured towards the astromech Coulson.

„His daughter, Peggy, is the connection to the less official part of the whole rebellion. There are those who - rightly - believe that the Empire has become too big to be brought down with nothing but diplomacy. The group Peggy leads is mostly gathering intel that will help them sabotage the Empire where they can.“

Steve recalled the image of her. A woman, maybe a bit older than him, dressed in the practical clothes of a diplomat on a long journey, with her hair and face made up neatly. He imagined her sneaking around a Star Destroyer, then, to gather information or sabotage something, and that sounded more like something out of the fantastic stories he’d gotten to hear of the rebellion. Princesses didn’t just fight rebellions single-handedly.

„And who is involved in this rebellion?“

Fury, who had been about to commence a new part of his explanations, seemed quietly amused by Steve’s question.

„It’s hard to say. Most systems have someone who sympathises with the rebellion in their midst, and planetary governments also don’t control who goes off to seek their luck as a starfighter pilot in the rebellion. But in comparison, it’s still a relatively small force.“

Steve nodded. He wondered, briefly, what Bucky would say if he heard all this, but then Fury spoke again and Steve lost the thought that had only been a brief flash in his mind anyway.

„The Emperor, of course, is putting everything to ending this rebellion. He thought he secured his power when he wiped out almost all of the Jedi over twenty years ag—“

„ _Wiped out the Jedi_?“

To say Steve was shocked would be an understatement. He was horrified.

At the same time, he couldn’t really believe it.

Fury’s gaze darkened. 

„Twenty years ago, at the end of the Clone Wars, Chancellor Palpatine issued an order. It was part of one hundred and fifty orders bound together in an emergency protocol that dictated what to do in case of certain unforeseeable events. This order that he issued, order sixty-six, was given to every clone and non-Jedi officer who served in the GAR at that time. It declared the Jedi enemies of the Republic who had to be executed on the spot.“

Fury paused, and Steve could see lines of sorrow etching their way deeper into his face. Suddenly, Steve was reminded of the rumours that Fury _was_ a Jedi. It didn’t seem so impossible now. 

„It worked so effectively because the Jedi, due to the war, were spread thinly over the entire galaxy. Mostly one Jedi commanded alone over hundreds of clone troopers. In the end, the Jedi Order was as good as dead.“

„But how can that be?“ Steve asked, „The Jedi disappeared hundreds of years ago!“

„Propaganda of the Empire, nothing more.“

Fury mustered Steve again, now, in a way that made him feel like he should be uncomfortable. He was being scrutinised, put to the test for something he didn’t know. Fury was _assessing_ him.

„Now that we’ve established this, I’ll continue with my Brief History of the Rebellion. Only if it suits you, of course?“

Steve detected a hint of irritation in Fury’s voice, and decided to put off further questions until later notice.

„The Emperor, who thought he secured his power when he wiped out the Jedi over twenty years ago, is putting everything into ending this rebellion. He has his most loyal lapdog on the hunt for anyone who counts themselves to the leading ranks of the rebellion. The Red Skull, he is called. A dreadful creature, who lost the last of his humanity long ago. He is incapable of empathy or any kind of emotion besides hatred. His every act is steeped in the dark side of the Force.“

Fury trailed off, but Steve’s interest was piqued again. 

„So he’s a Jedi? If he can use the Force?“

„He is as much of a Jedi as a Hutt is of a lawful citizen.“

Fury seemed personally offended by the insinuation.

„Jedi are not the only ones who can use the Force. The Jedi Order had committed itself to a path of light and peacekeeping in the galaxy, but every light has a shadow, and in the shadow of the Jedi Order, the Sith were born.“

Steve knew the basic story, had heard it as a child enough times, but he couldn’t doubt the sincerity with which Fury was speaking. 

„So the daughter of the senator has been captured by the Red Skull?“

„And is probably being interrogated this very minute about where she send these plans. I wonder…“

Fury trailed off, he didn’t seem like the kind of man who shared his thoughts. Steve tried to imagine a world in which everything Fury told him was true, and most of the population of the galaxy didn’t even know it. It was a scary thought. 

„Are you going to do it?“ Steve asked, „Get the plans to her father? To Alderaan?“

Now Fury’s attention was on him again, and sharper than ever. 

„Of course.“

He got up, moving his head to one side and then the other, and hearing his old bones crack. Whatever passed for Coulson’s eyes seemed to follow him. 

Steve was relieved, and strangely disappointed at the same time.

„In that case, I have to go.“

He got up as well, and tried to brush off the last of the sand from his unfortunate incident at the canyon. Which reminded him…

„What was it that attacked me in the canyon? And how did you find me?“

„Now you ask.“ Fury seemed amused. „For someone who grew up on this planet you’re surprisingly reckless. You should know that it’s not wise to cross the Jundland desert alone. The desert belongs to the sand people.“

„But how did you know to look for me? I can’t believe you were just passing by.“

Fury was holding his gaze. 

„Can I ask you something?“, Steve asked.

„You just did.“

„Something else.“

„Go ahead,“ Fury said with a noncommittal hand motion. 

„Are you a Jedi?“

„I suppose the rumors must have reached even you,“ Fury replied.

„That’s not an answer,“ Steve said. He was angry with Fury for withholding half of the information, for asking back, for not telling him outright. It seemed like an awful waste of time to be so vague all the time.

„Yes, Steve, I am a Jedi. One of the last.“

„But…“

„The Jedi were killed, yes. But not all of use. Some escaped. Went into hiding.“ He narrowed his eyes looking at Steve. „Some were saved.“

„Then why are you still here? Why aren’t you out there, fighting the Empire with the rebellion?“

If the Empire had done this to Steve, he reflected, he wouldn’t idly sit by while the man who had issued the order to wipe out everybody he had ever known, he would be fighting with the rebellion until his very last breath. 

„Some things are more important than revenge,“ Fury replied coldly, „And I believe you wanted to go.“

That was when Steve remembered Bucky and the shuttle.

„Oh no,“ he muttered. Hopefully the sand people hadn’t taken his speeder.

„What time is it now?“

„Almost midday,“ Fury answered, his back turned to Steve, rummaging around in a box that stood facing the wall.

Steve’s stomach dropped.

He pulled out his comlink, saw the missed calls from Bucky, cursed loudly and tried to establish a connection, but they probably were in hyperspace by now and the comlink was only equipped for planetary transmission anyway. He’d missed his chance.

His shoulders sagged, and he ran a hand over his face. He couldn’t believe he’d messed up that hard. Probably he’d been unconscious longer than he’d though, and he’d been so enraptured by Fury talking that he’d forgotten about the time. He had to contact Bucky as soon as possible. 

Maybe he could place an interstellar call from Mos Eisley.

„I need to go now,“ Steve muttered, then remembered the droids.

„I, uuuh…“ There were more important things right now than the droids, he decided. „Keep the droids.“

That prompted Fury to chuckle lightly. „How generous of you.“

Steve dashed out of the door, blessedly, his speeder was still there. He jumped in, and started the engine, and drove off.

 


	4. The Lost Boy

Nick Fury was blaming himself.

„Sir.“

The shimmering gold plating of the protocol droid caught his eye. He was standing in the middle of Fury’s living room, seeming at loss about what to do now. Even if Fury hadn’t known him, one look would have been enough to recognize the signature of his creator - Stark’s handwriting was all over that one, down to the very last line of his code. 

„I couldn’t help but notice the name. Steve. Is he…“

Fury cut him off before the droid could finish what Fury didn’t want to hear anyway.

„Yes.“

„Oh.“ 

JARVIS seemed taken aback. Maybe the droid was too rational to believe the whispers and rumours, even though he’d been _there_ some twenty years ago. He of all beings should know the legacy that came attached to the name _Steve Rogers_.

„Then why did you let him go, Sir?“

JARVIS surely expected him to do something drastic now, like race after Steve and tell him everything about his long lost legacy and the ways of the Force, but that wasn’t Fury’s style. He played his cards as close to his chest as possible, and something - the _Force_ , a mocking voice in his head insisted - told him that now wasn’t the right time. Steve would find his way back to him somehow, and then he’d be ready to go with Fury.

Fury closed his eyes for a moment. 

He’d become attuned with the desert around him in his years of living here, he knew every grain of sand and every stone, every skeleton of every animal that had found an untimely end here. Making out a living soul as deep in unrest as Steve’s was no hardship. 

He was indeed on his way back through the desert, aiming for Mos Eisley. 

„JARVIS, bring Coulson. There is a speeder in the garage you can get ready.“

He turned back to the box standing against the wall of his living room, and bowed down to pick up some things from inside of it. There were things in here he’d kept locked away for two decades, things crusted with ashes of a planet elsewhere in the Outer Rim burning with lava and chocking with smoke. 

He left those memories, and only pocketed the two small cylinders. 

„We are going to Mos Eisley.“

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Steve was out of gas.

Of all the things to happen to him today, this felt like the galaxy’s stupidest, most unnecessary, cruel twist of fate, even though he knew it didn’t matter in the long run _when_ he sent Bucky a message. He was out of time anyway.

His energy cells had been running so low that he knew he wasn’t going to make it to Mos Eisley, not even if he cut through the desert over the canyon. He had had half a mind to try anyway, but then he’d decided that he wasn’t quite ready to die yet, and had set course for the farm. 

Even before the smoke appeared on the horizon he knew that something was wrong.

There were tracks in the sand when he approached from the west hill, and not the kind that their farming vehicles left. This had been heavy machinery - darker soil had been uncovered in some places, and a condenser had been uprooted and left on its side. 

The tracks pointed towards the farm.

He drove on.

Then, a black cloud rose up from the horizon.

Steve’s stomach dropped when he saw the smoke. He could tell it was coming from their farm, there was nothing else out here, and a smoke like that meant a big fire. They weren’t exactly rich, and he’d just lost two of their droids. A fire would take up all of their savings for the winter months, and probably force them to borrow from someone. And the Hutts weren’t kind with their debtors. 

He sped up a bit more, even though his good sense told him he should save the energy in the fuel cells. If something was left to save, Erskine was going to need his help, and he was probably worried sick about him already anyway. 

Now that the thought of going with Bucky was already fading away, guilt was taking its place, and he wondered how he could have ever thought about leaving Erskine alone in the middle of the harvest, and what Erskine would have said had Steve suddenly disappeared - 

His train of thought was cut short when the farm came into sight.

Even from a distance it was clear that there was nothing left to save. Smoke came from both the workshop and their living quarters, the speeders were charred black and the transmitter on the roof was torn down. The sand was all over the place as well, deeply marked by the same tracks Steve had seen up on the west hill. He parked his speeder to get down and take a closer look.

That was when he saw the bodies.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Fury was in deep thought.

Coulson was piloting the speeder, Fury had let the droid plug into the control system halfway to Mos Eisley. There was something at the back of his mind, persistent like an itch he couldn’t scratch, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. 

He kept his eyes fixed on the painfully white desert sand. It was as good as closing his eyes to meditate, the desert kept his mind blank and allowed his thoughts to wander. He was going to get to that idea in his head sooner or later.

A sudden tugging sensation rose him out of his thoughts with a distinct feeling of dread. He turned to the east, and saw smoke rising up.

„Coulson, change course,“ he said, and leaned forward to take the controls again. The Force told him this was a matter of urgency, and he had no intention of being late.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Fire had destroyed most of the buildings, but the walls that were standing had clearly been charred by blaster fire as well. Steve had never seen the markings except for in holovids, but there was nothing else that had left dark black spots the size of a fist quite like it. 

Erskine must have been killed by the blaster fire.

Steve could only assume that he’d run into the workshop to see if Steve was there, but couldn’t hold out against the flames and the smoke. Crawling out, whoever had done this must have shot him.

Steve couldn’t imagine anybody doing anything like this.

He’d tried to get closer, but the flames had found his fuel containers and instead of quietly dying down were only climbing higher. Out here there was no fire brigade, no one to try and contain the damage. Steve could only watch as the flames went further and ate at the last remnants of his life here.

It was only when he heard the engine of a speeder that he turned around.

To say he was surprised when he saw Fury was an understatement.

The Jedi had a grave expression on his face, and his one eye caught Steve’s distressed gaze and took in the situation all at once.

„I’m surprised you haven’t run into the house yet,“ he said dryly. From Steve’s singed hair he could probably tell that he’d tried.

„How did you know to come here?“

Steve didn’t have it in himself to even sound surprised or accusing or anything. He was just tired.

„Would you believe me if I told you it was the Force?“

Steve cocked his head, and Fury sighed. 

„Then I won’t say it.“

Fury got out of the speeder and helped JARVIS and Coulson as well before walking over to Steve. 

„This was the Empire’s work,“ he said, „You can count yourself lucky that you were looking for me. They probably wouldn’t have taken kindly to finding you here.“

„What do you mean?“

Steve wanted to feel comforted but Fury’s words had a way of putting him off. It was like the man was trying to tell him something without saying it outright, and that irked him. He was also suspicious because disaster had struck twice in his life today, and both of the times Fury had mysteriously been there.

„I mean they would have shot you like they did with your uncle and your aunt. It’s a shame. I knew your uncle a long time ago.“

„Why would the Empire attack my aunt and uncle? What would the Empire even _do_ here?“

Half of the things Fury told him didn’t even make sense. He seemed to have context that Steve lacked, but he was clearly unwilling to share but _acted_ like Steve should understand, should just accept that the galaxy worked this way and he wasn’t going to get anything better out of the deal. It was infuriating.

„Isn’t that obvious?“

Steve followed Fury’s gaze to the two droids standing next to the speeder.

„I don’t want to think about how they found them, it’s already upsetting enough to know they’d bother following a diplomatic ship into the Outer Rim for a chance of illegal boarding and kidnapping, but clearly they’ve been looking for the plans Miss Stark entrusted me with.“

Steve’s jaw was set, and he had his arms folded in front of his chest. All this, he thought, all this for some plans and a rebellion that his family had no part in. He wanted to vomit, but settled for just breathing heavily instead.

He felt like he was barely keeping it together.

„Steve, listen to me.“

Fury was moving closer to him.

„They might still be around. They might back. It’s no secret Erskine’s nephew is living with him. If they ask around, you’ll be in trouble. You need to go. You have to come with me.“

„You mean more trouble than I’m already in?“

Steve couldn’t help the bitterness in his voice. He’d just lost his family. He figured it was justified.

He wondered how Fury saw all this and still managed to keep that calm demeanour. He seemed unfazed by everything.

„The Empire isn’t your local band of Tusken raiders, boy.“ 

Now Fury was getting aggravated. So maybe there was something that got him upset after all.

„They don’t just shoot some people, steal the livestock and leave. They’re not outlaws, they _make_ the law, and they have an agenda. If they want those droids, they’ll get them. If you’re in their way - well, too bad for you.“

„Then _give_ them the droids.“

Steve felt bitter enough to be hurtful. 

„It’s not my rebellion. What do I care? I was going to join the Academy today. I don’t want _anything_ to do with all this.“

This wasn’t what he’d imagined life to be like getting involved with princesses and Jedis. He felt hurt, betrayed - but he still didn’t like to hear himself talking. He knew he couldn’t give up here. Some part of him knew.

„You’d let the people who did this…“ Fury gestured around the wreckage of the burning farm. „…get what they want?“

He stepped up to Steve, so close that Steve could see little scars on Fury’s face where the eyepatch didn’t cover the skin. It was easier than facing the wrath in Fury’s eye.

„Are you _mad_?“

Steve still averted his gaze, dropped his head.

„No,“ he said, „I wouldn’t. I don’t want to.“

Fury nodded.

„I didn’t think so,“ he said, and stepped back. 

Steve let out a deep breath. He felt like was shaking all over.

„Then what do we do?“ he asked.

„Follow the plan.“ Fury said and dusted off his hands on his robe. Now that Steve took a closer look, he could actually see how the mismatched set of clothes had once been a Jedi robe: the tunic had been patched up with cloth of various colors, but the boots were obviously very sturdy and expensive, and the cloak Fury wore had the characteristic cut of a Jedi robe, if you could look past the torn fringes and patched up sleeves.

„What _is_ the plan?“

„Go to Mos Eisley. Find a freighter pilot that will take us to Alderaan as fast as possible. Deliver the plans.“

Fury seemed about to say something else, but thought better of it. He closed his mouth and turned away, just as Steve was beginning to think he was going to get some answers.

„I have a question,“ he said, following a moment of spontaneous inspiration. „Before we leave, I have a question.“

Fury turned around. „Is it one that is going to require a long answer? Because we’d best get going. I’m going to answer you everything that I can in the speeder.“

Steve looked back to the farm. He couldn’t see his uncle’s body anymore. The heat was unbearable.

„You said the Empire wouldn’t take kindly to finding me here. What did you mean by that?“ 

He turned back to Fury, and gave him his best _I am not backing down_ stare. 

„Because you did mean something else, right?“

Fury, in his defense, didn’t look beaten or acted like he was giving in. He only considered the question for a moment, and seemed to be tasting the answer on his tongue. 

„Have you never asked about your parents?“ he finally said.

Steve was taken aback. 

„Of course. Several times. They died when I was very young.“

Fury nodded. „That might have been true. As things are, you will never know.“

„Yes, because the only people who probably knew my parents are dead. My uncle never talked about his sister a lot. I assumed it was too painful for him.“

„No. That’s not it.“

Fury appeared to have resigned himself to the fact that Steve wasn’t leaving without answers.

„When the Empire wiped out the Jedi over twenty years ago, they were very thorough. They didn’t even stop at the younglings, the children that were so young they hadn’t even been assigned a master yet. Almost all were killed.“

For a moment, he dropped his gaze then, and Steve felt himself wondering what kind of pain a man who saw the entire structure of what had been his life go up in flames must feel, even years later. It seemed to not be only pain but also _guilt_ that Fury was carrying around.

„We saved you from the Jedi Temple. It was a miracle you were even still alive. We brought you here to Erskine, an old friend of mine, and he swore to keep you safe, to keep your powers hidden and your name a secret to the Empire.“

„You mean _I’m_ … I’m a _Jedi_?“

Steve gaped.

„Come on, that’s not…“

He trailed off. More unlikely things had happened today. Maybe he needed to take things as they were for a while, and then everything would start to make sense in its own time.

„You’re not a Jedi, son, believe me. If you were, you’d know it, because actually there’s a lot _to_ being a Jedi, but if we’re talking about potential here then yes, you _could_ be a Jedi.“

Fury was utterly sure of himself. He gestured towards the speeder.

„If you’d be so kind. We’re on a tight schedule.“

Steve followed. After everything that had happened, he wasn’t sure he was capable of anything more than following.

 


	5. The Pilot

Mos Eisley was dirty. 

Now, it was hard to keep anything on Tatooine clean, on account of regular sand storms and so on, but Mos Eisley was more than just a bit dusty. 

It was really, fucking, honest-to-God _dirty_.

The Bantha dung wasn’t even the worst of it, or the excrements from whatever mounts the variety of beings here preferred to use, there was food waste thrown in the streets and something that looked suspiciously like a Weequay sleeping off his hangover against the side of a building. The entire city was enveloped in the persistent smell of exhaust fumes and leaked fuel, a sharp, metallic smell that burnt in Steve’s nose. No matter how many times he visited the city, it just never got better.

People tended to ignore you in the bigger cities, Steve had come to accept that. Out in the farmland, people looked out for each other as much as they could - at least the families checked in on one or the other every two months or so - but people in the city just didn’t want any part in your business, and they didn’t want you to have any part in theirs. Many were foreigners in strange clothes and space suits ridiculously unfit for the oppressive heat of Tatooine.

Almost everybody wore some sort of light body armor, and everybody was armed.

Trade was the city’s business, and trade was were Hutts made their profit - any business that could be undermined, bribed, corrupted or otherwise tarnished by illegal means was their area of expertise, and nothing made that easier than the few centers of business transactions on a rural planet such as Tatooine. The Outer Rim had been left to its own for a long time.

Which was why Steve never would have expected to see Imperial troops here.

When he noticed the control post up ahead, he shifted in his seat nervously. He realized how they must look - Steve’s blond hair was still full of ash and stuck to his forehead from sweat, Fury looked like he was regularly ready to murder someone, _and_ they had two droids loaded into the back of their speeder while they were approaching Tatooine’s biggest space port. They might as well have been holding up a sign painted in red that said _hey guys you’re looking for us_.

„Am I reading this wrong, or are we screwed?“

Steve turned to Fury to see what the man had to say in his defense. He’d been the one to say they’d stay one step ahead of the Empire by heading to Mos Eisley straightaway after all. 

Fury just seemed mildly amused.

„I don’t know, are we?“

He turned to Steve and cocked his head as if to say _you tell me_.

„These are Imperial troops up ahead,“ Steve said. The white plastoid of their uniforms was very distinctive. So were the helmets, and the DC-15 blasters they were holding. Steve swallowed.

„Yes, they are.“ 

Fury faced the road again. Traffic was going slow due to the controls the troopers were running, and the beings in the vessels up ahead were complaining loudly.

„But we are lawful citizens and have nothing to hide, right?“

Steve didn’t know where this man was drawing his imperturbable courage from. If this was the Force, it was doing an impressive job at steering them head on into a dead end.

It was almost their turn. Steve sat up a little bit straighter.

„Shouldn’t we do something?“

„Yes, you’re right. They might need our passports.“

Fury seemed dead serious. Either this man was a genius, or they were both screwed. 

One of the stormtroopers moved up to them.

„These droids - when did you buy them?“

„We’ve had them a few years now,“ Fury replied, „You can buy them, if you want to.“

The stormtrooper gave no indication as to whether he thought Fury to be funny or annoying. Probably _he_ wasn’t even sure what _he_ thought of Fury.

„Papers,“ he asked briskly. Fury considered the blank plastoid of his helmet for a moment, then he raised two fingers in a sweeping motion.

„These are not the droids you’re looking for.“

„These are not the droids we’re looking for,“ the trooper replied, somewhat dumbfounded. 

„You’ll let us pass.“

Fury made the sweeping motion again. The trooper nodded slowly.

„You may pass. Move on!“

He stepped back to let them drive off.

Steve couldn’t believe what he’d just seen. He waited until they were safely away from the troopers, then he turned to face Fury.

„So… _that_ was the Force?“

Fury allowed himself a small smile. „Yes.“

„You can do that?“ Steve knew he was staring somewhat dumbly. „Make people do things? Influence their will?“

„It has its limits.“ 

Fury was dead serious again.

„We teach our students that only the weak-minded will respond to this sort of suggestion. I think it’s more of letting others do what they want to do anyway. This trooper did not want to be put in a situation where he’d have to make the call whether these were the droids the Red Skull needs or not, because he’s heard what the Red Skull does with people who waste his time.“

Fury didn’t even seem pleased. He was just stating the facts.

„And you just pick all this up through the Force?“

Steve was fascinated. He wanted to know how this worked, what Fury saw, what he felt, how he did it. Then he remembered, that, according to Fury, he’d be able to learn all that. He didn’t know what to do with that thought.

„I can pick up enough to fill the gaps with some common sense. It’s not all mystical hand-waving, boy. Never rely on just one skill to get you through a difficult situation. You have to use everything at your disposal.“

Fury parked the speeder at the side of a building.

„Now let’s see if my skill set is enough to get us off this planet.“

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Chalmun’s cantina was a shady place for shadier people who considered breaking the law their trade. Steve didn’t like it one bit.

Fury intercepted him before they entered the main room. He’d sent the droids off to hide somewhere else, on account that the Empire might have hired bounty hunters to keep an eye out to look for them. 

„You go to the bar,“ he said, „And you stay there. Don’t talk to anybody. Let me find the pilot, and then we’ll be off.“

Steve nodded, somewhat insulted over the fact that he was being treated like a child, but Fury seemed to have a point. This was _not_ a crowd Steve would like to mingle with.

He leaned against the bar. The barman came up with a cloth that seemed to be surgically attached to the hand of any barman from here to the core systems.

„What do you want, kid?“

Steve also didn’t like the fact that he spent an increasing amount of time with people who insisted on calling him _kid_. He was built small, yes, despite the years of working on his uncle’s farm, but he could lift things or throw a punch as good as anyone. Then again, he was used to people making judgements based on his appearance.

„A…uh… mineral water, please,“ he decided, which got him the dirtiest look from the barman, but a clean glass and something that did, in fact, look like water. He took a sip.

Someone leaned against the bar next to him.

„Driving anywhere today?“

The man in question was clearly older than him, with his dark hair and a well-trimmed beard as a stark contrast to the dirty overall he was wearing. 

„Why?“ Steve asked. 

„Oh, well, a handsome guy like you…“

„Oh,“ Steve said, „Sorry, but I’m not… looking for anything right now.“

Saying he was probably a wanted fugitive seemed to be putting it a bit briskly. The man shrugged. 

„No harm in asking,“ he said, gave the barman a wave and disappeared through the crowd.

Steve dedicated himself to staring into his mineral water with as much contempt as humanly possible. 

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Sam Wilson did not like Tony Stark very much.

He’d decided that today, at exactly twenty past one pm, when Tony had come to him with an apologetic face and a list of gambling debts longer than the impressive collection of insults in Hutt he’d acquired over the years. 

„You _complete_ …“

Sam had wrung his hands and damn near torn out some hair, but there was no room to move here. 

„Why would you gamble in a Hutt establishment anyway?“ Sam had asked.

„I thought there was going to be easy money. Our bird needs some fixing up, I was gonna surprise you…“

Tony had tried it with one of his charming smiles. It was not working on Sam.

„You _do not_ get to refer to her as our bird,“ he had said adamantly, and then stalked off to find a place to calm down and fix this whole mess. That was how he’d found himself in Chalmun’s bar about half an hour later.

It wasn’t the first time Tony had gotten himself into trouble with the law, or whatever kind of authority passed for the law on whatever backwater planet they found themselves stranded on. It wasn’t the first time Sam had had to rescue him from himself, either, and it wouldn’t be the first time they made it out alive. Sam just had to stay calm and keep looking.

Help often came in shapes Sam didn’t expect.

Today, help was taking the shape of a bulky old man with an eyepatch and a dark cloak.

„I’m looking for a pilot,“ he’d said, and Sam knew they were up.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

„Steve, I’d like you to meet Sam.“

Steve found himself face to face with a man a bit taller than him, dark skin and a blinding smile. He shook Steve’s hand with a firm grip.

„Nice to meet you.“

„Likewise.“

Steve smiled back, then sat down at the table Fury had steered them to. It was a corner table set into some kind of booth, so that Fury had a good view on the exit while maintaining cover for his back. That man really knew what he was doing.

„Down to business,“ Fury said, „We’re looking for transport to Alderaan. Me, my young associate here, and two droids. No questions asked.“

„I see,“ Sam asked, „That’d be ten thousand credits.“

„Son, I could buy a ship for less.“

Fury was using his patronizing voice. Steve recognized it as one of his primary tactics by now, together with his patented one-eyed glare that somehow seemed to stare into the soul of his conversation partner. 

„Yes, but who would pilot it for you? Junior here?“

Sam was fidgeting with something in his hands. Steve took a closer look and recognized a data chip, the kind that was used for transmitting business information. He did seem to genuinely want to work with them, but something else was clearly on his mind.

Suddenly, a shadow fell on the table. Steve looked up to see the man from earlier grinning down at them.

Sam gestured towards him. „This is my co-pilot, Tony.“

Tony smiled bleakly in Steve’s direction. 

„Sorry I came on strong,“ he said, then squeezed himself into the booth next to Sam. 

Steve said nothing.

„So, what’s the business?“ Tony asked.

„Two passengers, two droids, no questions asked,“ Sam explained, and Fury added, „We were just discussing prices.“

„Oh, I see.“ 

Tony eyed Sam nervously. 

„Well, we’re certainly not looking to stick around. What’s the destination?“

„Alderaan,“ Fury said.

„Alderaan, huh?“ 

Tony took the data chip from Sam’s hand and let it disappear into his pocket. Then he pulled out a datapad, but kept the screen angled away from them - force of habit, Steve suspected, because a moment later he was reciting facts on the Alderaan system.

„Nice, clean planet. What’s there to do for you?“

„None of your business,“ Fury said adamantly, „Now, about that price.“

„We can pay two thousand upfront,“ Steve suggested, and, turning to Fury, added, „If we sell your speeder.“

„Hm.“ Fury considered this for a moment. „Fine, and twelve thousand when we reach Alderaan.“

He seemed to be counting on the support of the senator.

„That offer seems too good to be true…“ Tony said suspiciously, „What’s the catch?“

Sam kicked him under the table. The movement was minuscule, but Steve caught it nonetheless. Fury and him weren’t the only two hiding something.

„Let’s just say…“ Fury was picking his words carefully, Steve could tell that much. „We’d like to avoid trouble with the Empire.“

„Oh,“ Sam said, „ _Oh_.“

Tony smirked. „Ooooh, what’s the matter?“

„No questions asked,“ Fury repeated stoically, and somehow his glare made even Tony shut up.

„We’re in business,“ Sam said, and then shook Fury’s and Steve’s hands, „We’ll meet in an hour at landing dock 94.“

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Sam took Tony aside when their new passengers had left to mind their own business till the takeoff.

„That just solved all of our problems? Why were you so reluctant to take on the job?“

He knew Tony, in the sense that he could tell when Tony was upset or not himself. What he didn’t know about Tony was where he’d come from, or how he’d scraped by before Sam had picked him up as a mechanic for the Falcon. There was a side to Tony that scared him sometimes, things that the man kept hidden away, and it was exactly this side that seemed to come bubbling to the surface now.

„You heard the man,“ Tony said accusingly, „They’re in trouble with the Empire. I’ll be lucky to get off this planet without a Hutt skinning me, and now you want to mess with the Empire?“

„Okay Mister Lawful Citizen.“

Sam shook his head. Tony was impossible sometimes. He didn’t know why they even stuck together.

„If anybody asks, we took on two passengers. We didn’t know they were - well, whatever it is they are. And if everything goes to plan, well, everybody goes home happy.“

Tony seemed to reluctantly agree. 

„I just saved your ass.“ Sam elbowed him gently. „A little thank you might be appropriate.“

Tony’s head jerked up suddenly. „You go ahead to the ship. I’ll join you in a minute.“

———————————————————————————————————————————————————

„You’re not even a real bounty hunter.“

Tony slid into the booth with the grim smile of someone who faced what he knew he couldn’t escape anyway. 

He’d spotted the man from far away: a cheap vest that masked breastplate armor under clothing, the blaster barely hidden under a too-wide jacket and the eyes of a man who was looking for his prey. He was sitting at one of the cantina’s corner tables, and he hadn’t taken his eyes off Tony since he’d walked in.

„And you’re not a real mechanic.“

Obediah Stane’s smile was broad and masking as friendly, but Tony knew who was hiding behind that mask and it wasn’t the pleasant person Obediah liked to pretend he was.

„I’m as real as it gets.“

Tony leaned back in his seat and folded his hands over his body. Secretly, where he knew Obediah couldn’t see it, he reached for his blaster. It was a mean galaxy, and Tony was determined to be the kind of man to survive in it. You surely couldn’t make it with niceties.

„Come on, Tony.“

Ah, so it was the friendly tour today. 

„We both know this is not where you belong. It’s time you give this up and come home. To stop running.“

„If anything’s sending me running, it’s you, Obediah.“

The blaster was sitting loosely in its holster, Tony made sure of that. 

„Your father…“

„My father has made it clear long enough that I’m not exactly what he was hoping for in a son. What he has to say beyond that doesn’t interest me.“

There were a few things in his life Tony didn’t like to acknowledge: his family was a part of it. His _legacy_ , as Obediah liked to call it, another.

„Listen, Tony, I think you underestimate what it took me to find you.“

Now Obediah was going for his blaster, Tony could read the subtle movements of the man effortlessly. He hadn’t stayed alive for so long outside of home by being the happy-go-lucky fool the rest of the galaxy seemed to take him for. Tony’s hand fastened around his own blaster.

Obediah’s teeth were clenched tightly when he wasn’t speaking. 

„This isn’t optional anymore. Your father needs you.“

„What my father needs is a reality check. Time stopped for him twenty years ago.“

„All the more reason for you to step in! Take some of the hard work off his hands…“ 

Obediah trailed off, leaving the rest for Tony to figure out.

„Oh, so you can step in and make claims as well, yes?“

Tony was fed up with this conversation. He was determined to cut it short by force should Obediah prove too bothersome. Then again, he knew the man was too clear for that.

„I would _never_ , Tony.“

Something about Obediah’s smile reminded Tony of the hunting fishes he’d seen on Doruuma - large, prehistorical beasts that terraforming had uncovered from the ice that now roamed the oceans. He’d seen one up close one day, by accident, and something about the sharp rows of teeth around a long skull with a flattened forehead reminded him of Obediah now. Maybe because he knew that both would go to extreme ends to accomplish their goals.

„This conversation is over,“ Tony said abruptly and rose.

Obediah was tutting.

„Oh but _Tony_ …“

Now Tony could see the bastard had had a blaster on him the whole time. His concerns didn’t seem to extend so far that he wouldn’t do Tony physical harm to achieve his ends. Well, each to his own.

Tony shrugged.

„Are you going to cause a scene here?“

„It’s loaded with stun bolts. You’re obviously drunk. I’m a concerned man of the law.“

Obediah folded his jacket back just far enough so that his badge from the Alderaan law enforcement was showing. 

Tony scoffed.

„There’s now law here, Obediah.“

His shot didn’t go for Obediah, but instead hit the lamp in the middle of the table, which exploded in a flash of light and smoke - God bless highly unstable but cheap chemical fluids used in cantina lamps - and Tony took use of the moment of confusion to disappear. 

As soon as he was somewhere safe, he patted himself down to make sure Obediah didn’t place a tracker on him. The Empire had nothing on this son of a Hutt.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

As bargains went, Peggy reflected, this one was fairly straightforward, although it did lack in finesse.

_Give me the princess or I’ll blow up her planet_ wasn’t exactly what one would call a fair deal. But it did the trick.

She’d figured it might be a bluff, of course, or just something the guards had told her to scare her, but had decided she wasn’t willing to risk it. Not with her father down there and her mother too, not with all the lives at stake should this station do what it promised to do. 

They’d shown her Alderaan first, lined up together with the other prisoners in a neat row, but kept apart far enough so they couldn’t whisper to each other. A few had snuck glances at her, maybe thought they recognized her, but nobody had dared to take a closer look - maybe the short hair and the heavy bags under her eyes really made her look that different, or people knew in just how much danger she would be if the Red Skull found her.

Of course, there was always the option they were daring her to step forward.

The Red Skull was pacing in front of them, occasionally stopping in front of prisoners to examine them more closely. So far, he hadn’t come down to the flight personell to which Peggy belonged now, but it was only a matter of time now. 

She hadn’t planned on it ending like this.

Now, her hand was forced. She was still convinced that if she’d just had more time, a little bit more time to think, she could have thought of a way to escape - escape from a space station the size of a small moon that was held by Imperial troops and the Red Skull himself. Well, she had never said it was going to be easy.

„This _station_ …“ 

While he was examining the prisoners, the Red Skull was talking, explaining to them the exact workings of the battle station they found themselves on. Some of it Peggy had figured from the plans, but she wasn’t an engineer, which was why it was vital to get the plans to her father as soon as possible. He’d know someone who could read them, and who would find a weak point they could utilize.

„This station is the ultimate instrument of peace in the Empire. To the Emperor, it is a mean to assure that local governors will now be unnecessary, that the power will be concentrated in his hands. With this weapon in our hands, no system will dare to stray.“

He was marching up the row now, fearful red face hidden under a black mask that made him seem like an insectoid with large, unblinking, black eyes.

„To me, it is a promise.“

He stopped in front of a man Peggy knew was the navigator on this mission. She felt sorry for the man - she had thought she could guarantee the safety of her crew on a diplomatic mission, but she had been wrong.

„Wherever you are, we will find you. You cannot hide from us. Wherever you will build your base, we will find you, and blast you out of orbit. There will not be a rebellion anymore - anybody foolish enough to rebel will perish, and the rest will subordinate themselves. The Empire will triumph at last.“

He was really getting into this victory speech thing. Peggy was waiting for the punchline the guards had hinted at.

Alderaan was shining through the big window in front of them. The sun was behind the station now, so it perfectly illuminated the blue oceans and green landmasses and Peggy marveled again at how beautiful space made things. Then again, everything shone brighter in darkness.

She briefly wondered if the people down on the planet would be able to see the battle station as a dark spot on the sun - surely something must be visible, although for all its size the station was still smaller than an average-sized moon. How much energy did it take up anyway to keep the station from orbiting the nearest mass?

„For those of you who haven’t recognized it yet,“ the Red Skull explained, „This is Alderaan.“

He was pacing now, without stopping to examine certain prisoners. He was relying on the impact of his words alone.

„Now, with the power that is given me, I will blast this planet out of the sky - unless you give me the princess.“

Peggy imagined him to be smiling viciously under the mask. At least now there were no sideway glances in her direction. She silently thanked her crew for sticking with her. Still, now it was her time to stick with her people down on the planet.

She stepped forward.

„I believe you are looking for me.“

 


	6. The Falcon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The road to Alderaan is paved with asteroids, apparently.

„This thing _flies_?“

Steve wasn’t exactly scared. Scared was the wrong word he decided, because first and foremost he was a pilot and he _loved_ flying, but it was also a fact that he had never in his life left Tatooine, and he’d heard enough stories of spacecrafts falling apart mid-flight to have respect of traveling through total vacuum. And this ship did _not_ seem to fulfill intergalactic safety standards. It was basically a single ship-sized building site.

„Hey!“

Out of nowhere, Sam Wilson appeared, holding a screwdriver in one and a comlink in the other hand.

„If you insult her, you can stay out and walk to Alderaan.“

„Sorry,“ Steve said sheepishly. There was something about Sam that just _got_ you, he decided, like something about him just made you feel bad for letting him down. He was the guy you genuinely wanted to _like_ you. 

Tony appeared from under the ship, overall smeared with grease and a big grin plastered on his face. For a moment he reminded Steve so much of Bucky that the pain was a sharp stabbing sensation in his chest.

„Have you honestly never heard of the Falcon?“

Steve had to admit he hadn’t. Neither had Fury, who was walking slightly behind Steve to keep an eye on the droids. Maybe the Imperial patrol hadn’t left him entirely untouched after all, which made Steve feel at least a tiny bit safer. Half of the time he genuinely believed Fury’s act of general disregard for their lives or safety. 

„Sam here has outrun Imperial star destroyers with this ship. He’s made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs. This ship - and her pilot - are a legend. Ladies and Gentlemen, and other distinguished entities—“

He made a mock-bow and pointed towards Sam with a wide sweeping motion.

„—Sam Wilson, the Falcon.“

Sam laughed and elbowed him in the side. 

„Cut it out. As far as I know, we have some people to ship.“

Steve helped JARVIS up the ramp of the Falcon, and then settled with Fury and Coulson in the common room that seemed to form the heart of the ship. Tony was running around like a Nuna, fixing things here and there and generally spreading a hectic buzz of activity, while Sam took a seat in the cockpit and then seemed to forget about the rest of the world.

„Please fasten your seat belts,“ Tony called from somewhere in the head of the ship, „We will start our journey shortly.“

Steve could see him through the hallway that connected the common room and the cockpit, settling down next to Sam. It seemed impossible for Tony to stop moving - now his hands were fluttering over the console, pushing buttons and pulling levers while the ship whirred to life under his hands. 

The ship took towards the sky, and Steve couldn’t even catch a last glance at the dirt hole he’d spent the greater part of his life on. 

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

„Princess.“

The Red Skull was ecstatic, if such a word could even be used to describe a creature like him. He was looming over Peggy like a predator that had found its prey, and with every minute that passed Peggy had increasing difficulty to shake the feeling that there was something else at work here.

It was only the Red Skull and her in the large room now, and a few people in dark uniforms. The other prisoners had been brought away, and it had only been after the flight deck was cleared that Peggy realized that her anonymity had also protected her crew - as long as any one of them held the key to where she was hiding or who she was masking as, they all had the same value.

Now, in the mind of the Red Skull, they were… _disposable_. 

So she was feeling guilty, yes, and that made it increasingly hard to concentrate on the current situation, which, in any other case, would have taken all of her attention. And it should, it really should, because she needed to get out of here and she needed to do it fast before the Red Skull asked her something that could only end with her releasing sensitive information about the rebellion or the destruction of Alderaan.

„How very noble of you. I must admit, for a moment I would have thought you were going to let them burn. I know how precious this rebellion is to you.“

_Precious_. He made it sound like this was some clever idea of hers, like it wasn’t a social necessity that had been in the making since the first day of the Empire. There wasn’t an alternative to rebellion, not to her and not to the billions of other beings that had joined the rebellion. She was simply a leading face in a movement of many, because it was the legacy her father had bestowed on her. 

The Red Skull didn’t seem to grasp that concept. It was always personal for him, in a way. Maybe that made him a good hunter, but it made him a lousy judge of people.

„And I didn’t expect you to use anything less than the dirtiest trick in the book to get to me.“

She hadn’t showered in what felt like a week, and her hair was getting tangled and matted. Her hands were tied behind her back, there were dark shadows under her eyes and her entire body felt sticky from sleep and sweat, but she could still straighten her shoulders and look at him with the same look of contempt she would have given him in any other situation. 

He couldn’t take her self-worth. Not if he tried for a million years.

„If you think that your new weapon will make all the systems kneel to your Emperor, you’re wrong. The more fear you inspire, the more systems will seek a way to evade you. Fear is only a temporary mean to power. It’s a fast one, granted, but it doesn’t last. Your Emperor will have to learn that.“

„I wouldn’t be so sure about that, _princess_ …“

He spat out the word like it burned on his tongue. 

„A battle station with the power to erase entire planets from the map. Maybe all you need is a demonstration…“

He was only taunting her, trying to see if she would give in. Clearly he didn’t know her well enough.

„The senate will never tolerate this,“ Peggy replied. As soon as the plans reached her father and could be made public, there would be a riot. If the Red Skull lost his temper before that, the scandal would be even bigger.

_Unless_ … a tiny voice in her head whispered… _unless his target is Alderaan_.

She recognized the voice of personal fear and shut it out. She had other things at stake her, things that didn’t just concern the tiny circle of people she’d grown up in, but everything she had fought for all of her life. She wouldn’t let her fear stop her now.

„The senate is history.“

The Red Skull was clearly enjoying himself. There was a spring in his step when he started pacing again. That probably should have alarmed Peggy more than it did.

„As of today, we will have no more need of petty local representatives. This battle station will prove its power and bring the systems to their knees in front of the Emperor and you—“

He stopped dead in his tracks and pointed at Peggy.

„—will provide us with the target.“

„In your dreams, maybe.“

Peggy would have crossed her arms in front of her chest had they not been tied behind her back. She would have liked to create some kind of barrier between herself and the Emperor’s henchman, because when he got too close, she thought she could smell rotten flesh from under his mask. 

„It’s a simple choice, really,“ the Red Skull said, „Either we choose Alderaan as the unfortunate target of this station’s first demonstration of power, or you provide us with a target of real military value. Your choice.“

He stepped closer to her, so that Peggy could count every scratch on that horrible black mask.

„Where is the rebel base?“

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

„Shit.“

Of all the words to hear from the general direction of the cockpit while flying in a freighter of questionable stability, this was probably the worst. Steve’s head shot up immediately - they’d just barely left Tatooine’s orbit, and there was no way things could go wrong _that_ fast.

Then again, this day had proven to be pretty messed up so far. A few unpleasant surprises more or less wouldn’t make a difference.

„What’s the problem?“ Fury asked, and Steve admired his ability to make his voice sound clear and loud despite the noise of the engine. 

„Um… you tell me.“

Tony had half turned around in his co-pilot seat, and was gesturing with one hand towards the big front window. 

„Come take a look.“

Steve got up, quickly followed by Fury. He’d expected walking in a spaceship just barely out of planetary orbit to be rocky or nauseating, but artificial gravity was working wonders. He didn’t even stumble one bit. 

He did almost trip, though, when he saw the two star destroyers filling the space behind the front window. With Tatooine’s twin suns behind the Falcon illuminating the grey metal they were almost too bright to look at. The grey durasteel seemed white against the dark space that surrounded them. They weren’t very pretty, and they definitely were _not_ good news.

„That’s…“

Steve didn’t know what it was. He just shut up, and turned to Fury, who only looked mildly concerned.

„They can’t know it’s us. Just stay on course.“

„I might have some bad news for you.“

That was Sam’s voice, who only just now looked up from whatever it was that his instruments told him. There was a deep frown on his face, and that alone should have been warning enough.

„They’re hailing us.“

„They’re just trying to see if we’re reacting.“

Fury was adamant, and Steve began to see the difference between confidence and the mask Fury kept on to keep everybody else from panicking. Simultaneously he wondered where pragmatism ended and foolishness began.

„Mister, I know the Empire.“ 

Sam didn’t let go of the controls, but he did turn around far enough to let Fury see just how much he disapproved of his ideas. 

„They don’t just hail people for the hell of it.“

Tony joined him. „Now, if you’d tell us what exactly it is that you did to anger the Emperor like this, we might be back in business. Until then I will keep the option to throw you out of the airlock open to myself.“

„Tony?“

„Yes, Sam?“

„Don’t alienate our guests.“

Sam, even with his teeth clenched, was the image of pure focus. Steve took him for a reasonable guy - someone who liked to know what was going on, but who seemed willing enough to give them the benefit of doubt. Of all the people in the cockpit, he was probably the one who looked like the had the situation under control the most. 

„Okay.“ Tony turned back to his controls. „But it might interest you that they’re readying their canons. It’s decision-making time.“

„There is nothing to decide.“

For a moment, Steve panicked. Sam’s voice sounded final. 

Then he caught the man’s eyes. 

„We said we’d get them to Alderaan, and that’s what we’re going to do. No questions asked.“

He punched some buttons, and the machines whirred in response. „Get us ready for the jump, Tony. Our guests might want to sit down again now.“

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

„You can’t blow up Aleraan.“

Peggy was deeply convinced that the Red Skull couldn’t, but she only had to scratch the surface of her reasoning to see that wasn’t true. He could, that’s what he had just told her, and there was no senate to stop him. His goal was to create fear in the galaxy, he didn’t need the people to love him. 

„I can, princess, and I will,“ the Red Skull responded, „Because I don’t have the time to play hide-and-seek with your pathetic rebellion anymore, and Alderaan is a military target as the main seat of this rebellion. Unless you would like to tell us something different?“

His reasoning lacked any kind of logic. Alderaan was peaceful to the point of being pacifist, and he knew it. Nothing on this planet called for any kind of military strike, nor did the Red Skull’s end justify his means, but he didn’t care.

„Fear will not bring you the obedience you hope for,“ Peggy replied, „It will only bring more systems to join our cause.“

The Red Skull turned away from her and signaled one of the people in dark uniforms. Peggy had assumed them to be guards, but apparently they were technicians.

„Power up the cannon.“

Peggy flinched. She knew her resolution was showing the first cracks. Her father was down there, the man who had founded this rebellion, and her mother, the queen. She could _not_ let those people die.

There had to be a way to save Alderaan and not betray the rebellion.

„It will be an impressive demonstration,“ the Red Skull mused, the hideous face covered by his mask turned away from her, „The Emperor will be pleased. And Senator Stark has overstepped his boundaries for far too long anyway.“

Peggy didn’t doubt that the Red Skull was serious. 

Maybe the day had come. Maybe this had been a head-to-head race, and now they were nearing the finish line - the Empire and her rebellion, only the Empire was taking the lead and this had never been a race with equal chances anyway. 

No, she decided. She wasn’t going to see this as the end. If she did, then all her chances of getting out of here would disappear, because she allowed herself to be weak. She just needed to figure out what the Red Skull wanted, and find a way to give it to him.

He wanted a target of real value. A rebel base. 

Well, of those she knew many.

„Last chance, princess…“

Her thoughts were racing, but her mind was made up. 

„Dantoine,“ she said, her shoulders sagging, „We’re on Dantoine.“

The Red Skull cocked his head at her, and Peggy though she could feel something like pity resonate from him.

He took a step back, the black receptors that passed for his eyes still fixed on her. Then he turned to the technicians at the control panel.

„Continue the assault.“

„ _What_?“

Peggy couldn’t help the emotion slipping into her voice, the exhaustion topped off with shock and horror and sheer _disbelief_. For a moment, she thought her legs were gonna give out.

„Dantoine is far away, and I meant what I said about Alderaan.“

A whirring noise filled the room - canons powering up - and more and more lights on the control panel started blinking. Despite the energy shielding, Peggy could feel the hairs on her arms stand up.

„Alderaan is _peaceful_ ,“ she insisted, „The planet has no weapons, they take no part in the rebellion, _please_ …“

The Red Skull didn’t even flinch. He stood motionless, facing the window and the planet beyond.

The whirring noise stopped suddenly - there was a white energy beam, and then dust.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

As soon as the ship was relatively stable - which was to say, as soon as they entered hyperspace, and Sam had gotten Tony away from the controls and down to the engine room for good - Fury got up from his bench and motioned for Steve to do the same.

„I suppose you have questions,“ he said, spreading his arms as if to indicate that he was open to such a thing, „So I’ll give you the chance to ask them now before you dive headfirst into this and end up with a broken neck because nobody told you how things work.“

To be perfectly honest, Steve already felt like he was drowning from taking the headfirst dive, and he had so many questions that he didn’t know which ones to ask first when he simultaneously couldn’t remember a single one, but he figured this might be his only chance.

He cocked his head at Fury.

„Is this supposed to go a certain way? Because I have a feeling you have something in mind.“

Fury, whose tattered Jedi robe looked worse in the artificial light of the the spaceship than it had under Tatooine’s twin suns, nodded gravely. He had a way with that as well, giving gravity to a situation. Another skill Steve credited to his alleged status of a former general. 

„I told you earlier that you had the makings to be a Jedi. I suppose you’ll want to ask about that.“

Since Fury wasn’t the type who went around giving answers like a goddamn fairy, Steve figured he should take his shot.

„The Jedi were killed. Erased. Disappeared.“

He paused, because honestly, it was hard to begin _anywhere_.

„So baby-me magically got out, or whatever, why haven’t I been able to do anything? I thought Jedi were supposed to be these all-powerful beings that go around spreading peace and knowledge where they go. But all I see is same old me, and I’m not much of anything.“

„You should stop listening to stories, kid.“

Fury shook his head.

„Being a Jedi doesn’t just come to you over night. If you want to do all the things you’ve heard in the stories, you’ll have a lot of work to do. And even then it’s less of the glow-stick-waving and more of the excruciating politician business. Or was.“

He shrugged. 

„I suppose that has changed now. Being a Jedi doesn’t mean what it used to mean, and certainly it means a lot more trouble. But it’s worth pursuing it anyway.“

To Steve it sounded less like convincing first lesson and more like Fury was trying to tell himself something. 

„So how do you do it?“ Steve asked. If he was one thing, it was determined. When he put his mind to something, he followed it through.

„First of all, it’s a feeling.“

Fury was looking around the room now. In a way, Steve was beginning to notice, he had a different relationship with his surroundings - he seemed aware of them to a point that didn’t just come from taking a good look around a room. He never just looked _for_ something, he looked _at_ something, as if he’d known from the start the item or person was going to be there or act a certain way. 

Steve began to understand just how deeply the Force was entangled with this man’s whole being. 

„Here, this’ll do.“

Fury reached for a helmet that was hung up next to the maintenance hatch. It had a mask that came attached to it, Steve guessed to protect the eyes when something needed welding. Fury handed him the helmet and made Steve put it on.

Then he did something with the mask, and suddenly Steve couldn’t see anymore. 

„Hey!“ he protested. He was vastly unsure about where this was supposed to lead. 

„Can you see?“ Fury asked.

„No,“ Steve replied.

„Good,“ Fury said, „Now take it off.“

When Steve took off the mask, Fury was holding a cylindrical object. 

„Take this,“ he said and handed the cylinder to Steve, taking the helmet from him. The cylinder fitted neatly into Steve’s palm - the middle riff was slightly thinner than the rest, and had riffles - for a better grip, Steve supposed. He also didn’t miss the red activation button.

„This is a lightsaber, isn’t it?“

Steve weighed the cylinder in his hand, gave it an experimental flip to test the handling. The weight was excellent, as far as he could tell - heavy enough to give his movements the adequate strength, and light enough to make it easy to handle. 

„Yes.“

Fury was using his festive voice again.

„The weapon of a Jedi. Not a tool to be used lightly.“

Fury directed Steve’s arm in a way he deemed safe, then told Steve to activate the blade. A shaft of plasma, about three feet long, shot out from the handle and into the air with a buzz. The blade was shimmering in a light shade of blue that was so bright it almost seemed white. 

When Steve moved it slightly to one side or the other, the buzzing noise changed pitch. 

„Okay, good.“

At Fury’s words, Steve deactivated the blade again, and watched it seemingly disappear into the handle with a sucking noise. 

„Now put the helmet back on.“

Fury tossed the helmet to Steve. He waited till Steve definitely couldn’t see anymore, then reached into his cloak pockets and brought out a round sphere about the size of a fist. When he tossed it into the air, it stayed at the highest point of its trajectory for a moment, then slowly descended downwards with a hissing motion.

„You’d better activate your lightsaber now,“ Fury told Steve, who promptly obeyed.

The first bolt hit him in the leg nevertheless.

„ _Ouch_.“

Steve kept the blade activated but flinched backwards. 

„What was that?“

„You’re going to try to defend yourself,“ Fury explained, „Don’t worry, those bolts are harmless. But they do hurt. And you _will_ have to deflect them with the lightsaber.“

Steve considered Fury’s words for a moment. The catch was obvious. He wondered if there was something that he was missing.

„Am I allowed to take off the helmet?“

„No.“ 

Fury laughed.

„You’re not supposed to think your way out of this. You have to trust the Force. You have to _feel_ it.“

Fury didn’t seem like a man who was big on feelings. Steve almost had to laugh.

The second bolt quickly cured that, though.

„ _Ouch_.“

Steve had to bite back a curse.

„Okay, so what’s the trick? Is there a magic word? Do I say _Force on_? Do I have to wave my hand around like you did with those troopers?“

Fury chuckled. 

„Nicely observed, but no. You’re still thinking too much.“

Steve bit back some more not-so-nice phrases, and then figured questions weren’t going to get him anywhere with this man. He tried to recall what he’d thought about Fury earlier - how the man always seemed to be hyper-aware of his surroundings, and tried to copy from that.

The thing was, it didn’t work like that for him. He was rarely aware of his surroundings in the way he’d seen Fury act. Steve was _focussed_ , and he didn’t like to be distracted, and with trying to _open his mind_ or _becoming aware of his surroundings_ he felt like he was letting in too many distractions. 

He realised that his thinking itself might be a distraction.

At that, he cleared his mind. He tried to let go of the part of him that insisted this was ridiculous and would never work, and allowed himself to anticipate nothing but the next intake of breath.

When the time came, his blade moved on his own.

The bolt from the small floating sphere connected with the blade with a sharp hiss, and Steve could feel the impact pushing his blade backwards. He let out a triumphant shout.

„Did you see that?“ he asked in the direction he suspected Fury to be, „I got it, it worked!“

But Fury seemed concerned with something else.

When he didn’t respond, Steve pulled off his helmet. At first, he took Fury’s thousand-yard-stare for a deception of the light and the fact that he could only see one of the man’s eyes, but then Fury didn’t look up at him and Steve noticed the deep lines on Fury’s forehead. 

The man seemed grief-stricken.

„Fury?“

Steve crossed over to him and hovered just before putting a hand on his shoulder.

„Can you hear me? Is everything alright?“

Fury shook his head slowly, less negating Steve’s question and more like rising slowly from a bad dream, then made eye contact with Steve. For a moment, Steve felt a shock going through something he assumed to be the Force, or what he could tell with his dull awareness of it.

„I felt…“

Fury shook his head again, more adamantly this time. 

„It can’t be.“

Admittedly, this was a bad time for Tony to stick his head out of the bay that lead down to the engine. 

„Amazing, kid,“ he commented dryly, „That glow-stick trick really is something. Now if the Empire shoots at us with slow motion stun bolts we’ll have a real ace up our sleeve.“

Steve turned around in an angry motion and glared at Tony. Something was troubling Fury, but Tony was throwing off his focus. „It must be easy to deny the existence of the Force when you’re so insensitive to the things around you anyway.“

Bucky did always tell he couldn’t let an argument lie. Steve would have insisted that he just had a thing against bullies.

„The Force, huh?“

Tony pulled himself up to sit on the edge of the shaft and let his legs swing freely over the engine. It didn’t seem like standard safety protocol, but then Tony seemed like the kind of man to have little concern for that anyway. His hands were grease-stained - he looked down at them and then wiped them on his already dirty pants. 

Steve thought they must be about the same age, but Tony already seemed more world-weary, as if he’d seen some things that had made him age faster.

„Listen, kid, I’ve flown from one end of the universe to the other, and I’ve been to more planets than I care to count, and _nowhere_ have I seen anything that reassembled some kind of mystical life force. It’s just space. It’s dark out there.“

He hoisted himself up all the way, closed the hatch and then left the engine behind, dragging only a toolkit with him. He seemed in no mood to continue the argument, or maybe he thought he’d won already. 

„We should reach Alderaan shortly. Best pack your magic glow-stick away before you poke someone’s eye out with that.“

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Steve had doubted their pilots’ capability before they’d even left the ground, but the fact they steered them headfirst into an asteroid field kind of solidified that belief. He was sure that was right up there in the Top Ten of Things You Should Not Do As A Commercial Pilot. 

They were standing in the cockpit, him and Fury, because Sam had announced that they were leaving hyperspace any minute now and that it was worth the view, really, so they’d come up to the cockpit, minus the droids, to watch the descent from hyperspace and the landing maneuver. 

Only it hand’t come to that.

Tony cursed - Steve felt inclined to believe that the man even cursed in his sleep - and then jumped up and past Steve to reach the nav computer in the back of the cockpit when the first Asteroid hit. Sam’s hands were pressed tightly around both sets of controls to keep the ship level.

Still the second asteroid impact knocked them off balance. Steve grabbed the headrest of Tony’s empty seat and offered Fury his arm, who frowned but took it gladly to keep himself steady. 

Then they both looked out of the window again. Steve felt something heavy settle in his stomach, like a dark omen of things to come.

There should have been light. Brilliant, emerald green light, reflected from Alderaan’s surface of grass plains and lakes. 

Instead, there was darkness, littered with stars.

„It’s not the computer,“ Tony forced out between clenched teeth, „We’re in the right spot but… Alderaan isn’t here.“

If Steve hadn’t just turned to cast a look over his shoulder, he might have missed the expression of Fury’s face in passing - the furrowed brow, and again the deep sorrow from earlier. _Now_ Steve was worried.

„What is it?“ he asked, and vowed to be more persistent this time, because apparently that was the only way to get Fury to spill his secrets. To wait for him to reveal them in his own time seemed a futile attempt. 

„Alderaan is here,“ Fury said cryptically, „This is Alderaan.“

„What do you mean? This is _Alderaan_?“

Like Steve, Tony seemed in no mood for vague explanations.

„Tony, let the man talk,“ Sam reprimanded him, and it came out more chiding than usual because Sam was still holding on tightly to the controls to get the Falcon out of the asteroid field. Steve wasn’t sure if he was even blinking.

„The planet has been destroyed,“ Fury said darkly, „I felt…“

„Oh great, he _felt_ ,“ Tony exclaimed, which earned him a death glare from Fury and a loud cough from Sam. Steve vowed to pick up their argument again at a more fitting time. Tony deserved to be hit over the head with something heavy, preferably the blunt end of Steve’s newly acquired lightsaber.

„There was an outcry in the Force. Millions of souls eradicated in the blink of an eye.“

Fury fixed Tony with a stare that would have made a Wookie back down.

„They blew up the planet. Is that specific enough for you?“

„Who is _they_?“ Steve piped in. „I mean, who could _do_ such a thing?“

He stared out again at the destruction before them. It seemed impossible that someone should have found the power to wipe an entire planet off the map and yet… he could _feel_ it. The feeling he’d had when he’d first glanced at the asteroid field that had once been Alderaan, all that destruction echoing in the Force, speaking of pain and fear and _death_ , energy forever dissipated into meaningless particles floating in dark space. 

„Who would have an interest in destroying Alderaan?“ Fury wasn’t even waiting for an answer. „The Empire, of course.“

The asteroid impacts were decreasing in frequency now. Sam had managed to pull them out of the thick of it.

„Where would the Empire get a weapon like this from without anyone knowing about it?“ he asked, but he seemed to know it was true just as much as Steve did. He was just reasoning to calm himself.

„Does it matter?“ Fury asked. „They have—“

„Something’s on the radar!“ Tony called. „We’re on collision course. Does Alderaan have moons? I think the explosion might have knocked one of Alderaan’s moons out of its orbit.“

He turned to the nav computer again. „We need a new course, Sam… setting new course _now_.“

„That’s not a moon, Tony.“

Sam pointed at something in the distance, too big for an asteroid and brightly reflecting the light of the sun Alderaan had orbited. 

„Unless it’s a reflecting moon.“

„It’s a space station,“ Steve exclaimed.

„Impossible,“ Tony vetoed, „It’s too big for that.“

Fury seemed to get increasingly agitated. 

„We should…“

„If the Empire was here, whoever is on that station should know!“ Steve realized, „They might know what happened to Alderaan.

„I’m calling them now…“ Tony said, „Station, this is the Millenium Falcon. Requesting to speak to your Captain, over.“

„Would you _listen_ to me?“ Fury’s voice thundered through the cockpit. 

Everybody ducked automatically.

„That _is_ the Empire,“ Fury explained a little more calmly, „Why do you think they’re still in dead space? They were waiting for us to show up here.“

He turned to Steve as if to say _they were waiting for you and the plans_. 

„I’ll get us out of here,“ Sam decided, and punched the controls but instead of turning away, the ship just started rattling and bucking wildly.

„Oh no…“

Sam let go of the controls.

„Oh _no_ …“

 

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr under ladybriennne (note the three 'n').


End file.
